Telenor Taps Tandberg for Digital Terrestrial

Norwegian broadcaster Telenor has selected Tandberg Televisin to supply it with video compression gear to help support Norway's move to digital terrestrial TV (DTT).

Telenor Broadcast Holding AS has signed a contract under which Tandberg, a long-time compression supplier to Telenor, will provide it with its EN8030 MPEG-4 AVC encoders, iSIS 8000 IP-based multiplex system and Compass control and monitoring tools. Tandberg says its MPEG-4 AVC gear providesbandwidth savings of up to 50% over older MPEG-2 technology.
The Tandberg deal is the second major contract for compression equipment awarded by Telenor in the past month. At the recent IBC show in Amsterdam, Harmonic Inc. announced a deal to provide Telenor with both MPEG-2 encoders and multiplex systems for its direct-to-home (DTH) satellite subsidiary, Canal Digital, which serves over 1 million households in the Nordic region. A Harmonic spokesperson says that agreement represents a completely separate project from the DTT launch, which Harmonic also bid on.
Telenor owns one-third of Norwegian DTT license-holder Norges Television (NTV), along with broadcasters NRK and TV2, and is building and operating the encoding and multiplexing component of the Norwegian DTT network. Trials of both standard- and high-definition digital television are scheduled to start in January, with the commercial roll-out of the standard-def service slated for September 2007.
"The move to digital terrestrial television is a historic landmark in Norway and we have selected Tandberg Television as our DTT technology provider," says Torkel Aamodt Thoresen, Telenor's Technical Product Manager, in a statement. "The company's flexible IP multiplexing technology and its next generation MPEG-4 AVC encoders will enable us to build a DTT network with a flexible digital television infrastructure that can support the introduction of increased channels and new video services."